CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.
Film Reviews
Warming, Sincere Teen Drama ‘The Way He Looks’
Submitted by NickHC on January 2, 2015 - 4:04pm Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Opening this weekend at the Music Box Theater is “The Way He Looks,” a Brazilian coming-of-age drama that navigates topics of living with blindness and sexual curiosity without an agenda. Though strained by an underdeveloped focal love triangle, these facets are explored with freeness within the developing era of high school crushes.
Dull Story of Extraordinary Survival in ‘Unbroken’
Submitted by NickHC on December 24, 2014 - 4:00pm Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Olympic runner, plane crash survivor, and WWII POW Louis Zamperini had an extraordinary life of defeating even more profound conditions from cruel nature and fellow man. His is a tale of grandiose cinematic potential, especially considering our desire for beat-down underdogs and their gauntlets of adversity, but such gets a surface-level treatment from director Angelina Jolie’s underwhelming tribute “Unbroken.”
A Lost WWII Hero Remembered in Slick Thriller ‘The Imitation Game’
Submitted by NickHC on December 13, 2014 - 2:35pm Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The heroism of World War II codebreaker Alan Turing has been lost in time. Partly due to the secrecy of his mission within the British military in World War II, but also because of the intolerance that erased him soon after his incredible accomplishments. The story of Turing, a man who helped the Allies win the war but was then persecuted for his closeted homosexuality, is given a long-overdue major feature treatment.
Incredible Personal Tour in ‘Antarctica: A Year on Ice’
Submitted by NickHC on December 5, 2014 - 6:17pm Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Along with your local library’s DVD section and equality, Antarctica remains one of the general world’s greatest oversights, even though it’s the size of a continent (because it is one). Around this time of year, the North Pole gets a huge shoutout for its mass production of brand items, but it’s the South Pole that forever remains in the shadow of everything else in the world, only mentioned in films like Werner Herzog’s 2007 documentary “Encounters at the End of the World,” or that 2009 Kate Beckinsale snow thriller “Whiteout.”
Feminism Humbles Tommy Lee Jones in Heartfelt Western ‘The Homesman’
Submitted by NickHC on November 22, 2014 - 7:50pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – In Tommy Lee Jones’ passion project “The Homesman,” the wild west provides a vivid setting for a battle in man’s endless war against women, as the film firmly occupying a genre strictly known for cowboys and pioneer machismo. It’s a sorrowful western from actor/writer/director Jones that often shines in its twilight, hoping to slightly reconcile the maltreatment unleashed on half of the world’s most powerful species.
A Pivotal Debate in World War II Drama ‘Diplomacy’
Submitted by NickHC on November 14, 2014 - 8:39pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – It’s late August in the year of 1944, and Paris is about to be destroyed by a vacating Nazi party. “Diplomacy” is a chamber film that imagines the crucial conversation between a Nazi general and a Swedish diplomat that is said to have saved Paris, a riveting story of personal actions influencing the course of world history.
Heartfelt Tale of Human Needs in ‘The Theory of Everything’
Submitted by NickHC on November 14, 2014 - 6:32pmRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The life story of iconic physicist Stephen Hawking is given a well-deserved cinematic treatment this weekend with “The Theory of Everything,” an earnest presentation of an existence that defies the usual. As his personal journey required the care-taking of others, the film is not adapted from something Hawking wrote, but from his wife Jane’s personal account, “Traveling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen.”
No Supernatural Slam Dunks in Teen Horror ‘Wolves’
Submitted by NickHC on November 13, 2014 - 2:42pm Rating: 1.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – For the pack of horror fans who mourn the “PG-13” toothlessness of the teen wolf, the limited-release film “Wolves” tries to reclaim the character with slow-mo, WWE-with-claws fight scenes and some sprinkles of brief softcore wolf porn. If that’s all one could ask for from a werewolf movie, you probably can’t be blocked from giving this one a curious look; however if you’re trepidatious of a plainly junky, R-rated reaction to “The Twilight Saga,” perhaps you can be stopped.
‘Big Hero 6’ is Sorely Lacking the Charm Component
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 8, 2014 - 10:38am Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Big Hero 6” is a dark revenge thriller masquerading as a kids movie. Walt Disney Studios takes a few pages from its corporate cousin Marvel, while creating this new animated adventure. It has its moments, but not quite enough of them to make this anything more than a minor entry in the Disney legacy.
Guantanamo Bay Drama ‘Camp X-Ray’ With Kristen Stewart
Submitted by NickHC on November 7, 2014 - 5:03pmRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The haunting setting of Guantanamo Bay is used for elementary emotional effect in “Camp X-Ray,” a prison drama electrified more by its performances than its hopes of a profound narrative about the interactions between gatekeeper and captive.
